Pat Quinn
John Brian Patrick "Pat" Quinn (born January 29, 1943), is a former head coach in the National Hockey League, most recently with the Toronto Maple Leafs between 1998 and 2006. He is also a retired NHL defenceman. He has won the junior league's Memorial Cup as both a player and an owner. He is sometimes known by the nickname "The Big Irishman". Playing career Quinn was a member of the 1963 Memorial Cup champion Edmonton Oil Kings, where he was a teammate of fellow future NHL player, coach, and manager Glen Sather. After several years in the minor leagues in the EHL, CHL and WHL, he was called up by the Maple Leafs in 1968. During this tenure, he is probably best remembered for a thundering open-ice bodycheck of Bobby Orr in the 1969 Stanley Cup playoffs against the Boston Bruins which left him unconscious and provoked a bench-clearing brawl. In 1970, the Vancouver Canucks claimed Quinn in the 1970 NHL Expansion Draft. After two years in Vancouver, he again was left unprotected in the 1972 NHL Expansion Draft, and spent the next five years with the Atlanta Flames (their first in the NHL) and served as their captain before retiring in 1977. Management Quinn became an assistant coach for the Philadelphia Flyers in 1977 under Fred Shero, and was named Head Coach of the AHL Maine Mariners (the Flyers farm club) the following season. Quinn returned to the Flyers late that season, however, as Head coach of the NHL club (with McCammon going back to Maine), and during the 1979–80 NHL season (his first full season with the Flyers) Quinn led the team to a record breaking 35-game unbeaten streak that culminated in a trip to the Stanley Cup finals, where they were upset by the New York Islanders in six games. Quinn won the Jack Adams Award for his effort. Quinn stayed with the Flyers two more years, but was replaced late in the season during his fourth year. Quinn briefly left hockey (but remained in the Philadelphia area) at this time to attend law school at Widener University and finished his degree at the University of San Diego while he was also coaching the Los Angeles Kings. For the 1984–85 season, he was hired by the Los Angeles Kings. In his first season, he returned them to the playoffs after a two year absence with a 23-point improvement in the standings. In December 1986, Quinn signed a contract to become the President and General Manager of the Vancouver Canucks for the 1987–88 NHL season while still under contract with the Kings. Quinn, a lawyer, maintained that the Kings had missed a deadline on an option on his contract, which had a clause allowing him to negotiate with other teams. NHL President John Ziegler banned Quinn from coaching the Kings for the rest of the 1986-87 season and coaching the Canucks until 1990. The Kings tried unsuccessfully to sue the Canucks for tampering. [ For the 1987–88 season, he moved to the Canucks as President and General Manager. In 1991, with the coaching ban lifted, he took over the head coach position with the Canucks, and in the following season, won his second Jack Adams Award as a dramatically improved Canucks succeeded in winning the Smythe division, and they captured the division title again in 1992–93. In 1994, despite a lackluster regular season, Quinn led the Canucks on its Cinderella run to the Stanley Cup finals, out coaching the Maple Leafs' Pat Burns in the conference finals. In the finals, they pushed the first-place New York Rangers to a thrilling seven game series, but weren't able to complete the run. After this success Quinn gave up his coaching duties to focus on his duties as President and General Manager. In the mid 1990s, the Canucks ownership gradually shifted from the Griffiths family to a new group led by John McCaw, Jr.. In November 1997, Quinn was shockingly fired by the new ownership, with whom Quinn did not see eye-to-eye. In that year he moved to Toronto to become head coach of the perennially downtrodden Toronto Maple Leafs. In his first season as coach the Maple Leafs improved dramatically, transitioning from a plodding checking team to a speedy scoring team. As a result of Quinn's coaching the Leafs reached the conference finals but lost to the Buffalo Sabres. After the season Quinn was given the additional duties of General Manager as a reward for his outstanding season. Pat Quinn was also a finalist for the Jack Adams Award but failed to win. On April 20, 2006, Quinn was fired along with the Maple Leafs assistant coach and former teammate Rick Ley. Neither were offered another position within the organization. Quinn was dismissed because the Leafs had failed to reach the playoffs, though many criticized Ferguson's signings, all of which had little impact in the Leafs' late season run to secure a postseason berth.. At the time of his departure, Quinn was the winningist active coach in the NHL, and is 4th of all time with 616 wins. Quinn's NHL coaching record includes 11 first round playoff wins in 16 seasons. An astounding winning percentage of 69%, surpassed only by coaching legend Scotty Bowman, 71%, and ahead of New York Islanders legend Al Arbour, 66%. Quinn is known for promoting a rugged puck possession oriented style of offensive hockey. Under Quinn, the Maple Leafs had consistently been contenders, making the playoffs every season until his last, but never advanced past the conference finals. Quinn is a part-owner of the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League who won the Memorial Cup in 2007. International At the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, Quinn coached Team Canada to their first Olympic gold medal since 1952, with a 5–2 victory over Team USA in the gold medal game. He subsequently received a standing ovation from the fans in Montreal for his efforts in his first NHL game back from the Olympics. Two years later, in 2004, Quinn coached Team Canada to victory in the 2004 World Cup with a perfect 6-0 record, capped off by a 3–2 victory over Finland in the final. Looking to defend their 2002 Olympic gold medal, Hockey Canada chose Quinn once again to coach Team Canada at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. Despite high expectations, Canada went 3-2 through the preliminary round, losing to Switzerland and Finland, both by 2-0 shutouts, then lost to Russia, again by a 2-0 score, in the quarter-finals. Without an NHL coaching job, having been let go by the Maple Leafs at the end of the 2005–06 season, Quinn was chosen to coach Team Canada at the 2006 Spengler Cup. They made it to the final game against HC Davos, but lost 3–2. Two years later, Quinn turned to junior hockey, serving as head coach for Team Canada in the 2008 IIHF World U18 Championships. He led Canada to the finals against Russia, taking the title by an 8–0 score. Quinn was chosen to coach the Canadian under-20 team for the 2009 World Junior Championships as the host country in Ottawa. He led Canada to an undefeated record in tournament play and a fifth consecutive gold medal, defeating Sweden 5–1 in the final. Honours *1963 - Memorial Cup - player (Edmonton Oil Kings) *1980 - Jack Adams Award – Coach of the year (Philadelphia Flyers) *1992 - Jack Adams Award – Coach of the year (Vancouver Canucks) *2007 - Memorial Cup - minority owner (Vancouver Giants) Career statistics Coaching record References Category:Born in 1943 Category:Atlanta Flames players Category:Canadian ice hockey players Category:Edmonton Oil Kings (WCHL) alumni Category:Hamilton Tiger Cubs alumni Category:Jack Adams Award winners Category:Los Angeles Kings coaches Category:Philadelphia Flyers coaches Category:Toronto Maple Leafs coaches Category:Toronto Maple Leafs players Category:Vancouver Canucks coaches Category:Vancouver Canucks players